Tuesday, 22 June 2010

SIMPle misunderstanding

When Karl Edo attended SIMP* he found that he had been mistaken. He had expected it to be an exhibition of modern furniture, but it proved to be mostly a large antiques fair. There was a lot of really beautiful and exquisite old furniture for sale, but hardly anything that would fit in Spook House.

The furniture in antique style in these photos are from the stand of Patricia Herbillon.

Her furniture had just the right clean contemporary look he preferred. But he found her stand just at end of the day, so most of her furniture and accessories had already been sold out. But he found a very nice low storage shelf.

He also bought two handstitched cushions in a cool retro design made by the famous cushion designer Rosanna Rolla.

The ceramics are incredibly lovely! Had I known they existed, I might have sent you some Euros to purchase a bunch on my behalf!!! I've only been to one show and it was pretty much the same in terms of the ratio of traditional to modern. But at least you were with your ami, Cocco!! And in Paris, to boot! :)

Ooooh I saw those cushions and thought they were printed!!!!!! Rosanna told me "no, I don't know how to print on fabric". LOL! :) Her work is spectacular and yes, I love these 2 pieces because of the colours. Very 60's!

I love that A-shaped chest of drawers too. And those ceramics are very pretty! Welcome home, Helene :).

Hi Helene, I told you I was curious to know where you'll place them. Thank you very much for coming, it's been a pleasure. BTW the first time we met I misunderstood and thought you were German, at the end of the day when you came back I was so dizzy that I realized who you were only when you moved...I'm so sorry about it. I'd have loved talking a bit more with you.I'm glad you got the pillows cause, when I stitched them, I was thinking exactly at something like your house.Thank you again, have a nice day, Rosanna

Thank you Carol! One of the antiques in a modern home could be cool, but each of them did cost a fortune! And I'm so happy I found the white vases, they are so beautiful! She had made a coffee set as well, with the same thin line as one of the tall vases, but sadly it was too expensive for me.

Hi callsmall. I didn't know theses vases existed before I saw them there neither. Unlike Karl Edo I went to SIMP without anticipations of finding anything modern there. But I think she had an e-mail address I can send you. She really had a lot of beautiful items. Cocco bought something from her as well.

And yes, it was so nice to see Cocco again! Telephone calls and e-mails aren't the same as going to miniature shops and Lafayette together :-)

I'm so sorry that Karl Edo was disappointed. I hope that finding those exquisite white vases made up for the dearth of modern styles exhibited! I look forward to seeing them in his shop :-)(I don't like to criticise Karl Edo's description of most of the offerings, but as someone who collects antique and vintage pieces, as in antique = made at least 80-100 years ago, I think perhaps he could more accurately characterise these pieces as 'in antique styles'. I would probably also have been disappointed by finding very few old miniatures - though I'd love to have some of these modern pieces, including the pyramid chest of drawers!

Karl Edo aside, I hope you and Trond and Cocco and her husband had a great time in Paris!

Thanks Sans!Yes, the cushions are gorgeous, and the stitches are so incredible tiny!So funny, after I bought these cushions, the 60's seems to be everywhere; on todays post on My Realitty's blog and in this afternoons episode of the "Charmed" series I'm watching reruns of with Bendik, where they went back in time to the 60's and the days of flower power :-)

Seeing the photo, I feel a little bit sad for not buying the A-shaped drawer as well, I just bought the ones with the four leather drawers. (Which also is fabulous) I was a bit overwhelmed at the time about how much money I had already spent, and thought it would be easier to use the other one in different settings. But now I wished I had bought them both.

Danke schön Rosanna :-) Even though that SIMPle misunderstanding, it was so great to meet you! You were so sweet, even though you were so busy and (as I know now) didn't have a clue who I was :-)I was a bit confused myself, because the second time we spoke, we actually were in a hurry to meet our husbands for lunch, so when I said how much I had spent I said the amount in Norwegian kroner instead of Euro, which made it sound like I had spent 8 times as much as I had actually done :-)

When I saw the pillows I thought they were the perfect style for me! I'm pondering about how to use them because of the scale, they look a little bit big used as normal cushions on my 1:16th scale sofas, but in the flower power days I guess they often used pillows on the floor as well:-)I'm going away again already on Friday, but am looking forward to be using them in a scene when I get back again.

Thank you Rebecca, we had a great time in Paris with Cocco and husband! We get to meet them so seldom, so it's very nice when it happens. And thank you also for your concern for Karl Edo :-) I think he was more disappointed than me, because I hadn't any expectations of finding something modern at the fair. But the vases was a great concolation for him together with Rosanna's cushions :-)(And a nice surprise for me)

And you're absolutely right, I should have been more specific! Karl Edo can't tell the difference between a real antique and a copy, but I have now changed the text underneath the pictures, to specify that the pieces are just copies.(In my defence I wrote the post in the middle of the night :-))And I think I would have liked them much better myself had they been real antiques! Even though Karl Edo doesn't, I love going to antique shops myself :-)

And as I commented above I could have kicked my ... for not buying the pyramid shaped drawer as well as the low one. I just thought it would be too extravagant to buy both and was in a bit of a hurry for a lunch appointment, so I didn't have the time to reconsider. But that said, I love the one I did buy.

Sans, I thought about it, but bygones are bygones. I spend the money saved on other miniatures instead :-) Say Hi to Dale from me, I'm sure you both have great fun together. I'm a bit busy today since we're going to Denmark for a week tomorrow! I will respond to your mail when I get back :-)

Thanks Dale, the Jouffrey passage has to be one of my favourite streets in the world :-) Nice to have you back, since I have been so much away too I have also a lot of catching up to do, but don't stress!

And I'm also sure there will be more and more modern minis soon, I loved Patrizia Santi's stand, but sadly most of it there was too large for me.

About Me

Hi, my name is Helene. I'm 52, married and have a girl who's 16 and a boy who's 19 years old. All my houses are in the 1:16th scale, or 3/4" scale, which it's also called. I got my first Lundby doll's house when I was 7, but did not get addicted until I grew up. Now I have a few more...